Day 8

I finish writing the second scene and adding the RP hooks. Next step is to start laying out to have an OK presentation.

Half-way post

I spent the last couple of days sketching a second scene. It will shows a teaching lesson between the current 11-years-old child-mage and her 5-yeas-old apprentice. Today’s task was to build two NPC sheets for the two children-mages with name, age, appearance, personality, quotes and hooks.

Day 3

Yesterday was busy with my day job so there was nothing to update about. Today I started my list of places in the district. In each place, there will be a small scene with a few NPCs to meet.

Ampa’s stall does not look like much but most elders come here for the freshest, more flavourful vegetables in the district. The place is full of colours and scents. The green mass of Kangkung, coriander and cucumbers is dotted with bright red hot chilies and the earthy brown of fresh ginger. Under the canopy, a few clients are sheltered from the warm drizzle. Gossips and news are exchanged on a friendly tone between the regulars while their grandchildren improvise a marble game field nearby.

« I’m preparing stir-fried water spinach with shrimp paste for my family tonight. We are gathering to celebrate the kid’s graduation. Give me enough for eight, and only the better ones Ampa, as always » friendly ask Hasaniyah.

« My tips is frying the ginger from the beginning with the onions » advises Gatta, another regular.

Their chatter is broken by a cry from the playground. An eight-years-old girl is sobbing in the improvised playground. She is sitting on the ground, gripping her ankle. In front of her, a slightly older girl is apologising, still kneeling toward the marble target as if she had just taken a shot.

« I didn’t do anything, I swear, Alo. The marble moved on its own! You know how it works. Are you… » begins the older one, but she’s cut off. « You should have followed the rules, answers the sobbing kid. You made it do that because it was not your turn! It’s all your fault » as she starts crying even harder.

The two grandmothers hurry out from the canopy to check on the kids. A small, round bruise the exact size of a marble is already darkening on the younger girl’s ankle. The older one repeats her plea but the sorti of the moving marble is dismissed outright by the adults. Both children are scolded, the marbles are packed away, and everyone collects their vegetables before leaving in silence.

As suggested, I plan to share my work-in-progress for my 10-days participation in this thread. Feel free to provides feedback and to share your own work!

And thanks to the jam host.

Day 1

Today I drafted the main concept for the district. It currently lacks sensory details and quotes to make it feel alive, but it’s a good start. Here is the current draft

In a district of Palopo, Indonisia, children respect the rules of their games not out of pure tradition or fair play, but out of fear. Cheaters’ marbles are said to vanish at night, and seekers who don’t finish their counting before starting the chase report being frozen in place, unable to move.

Elsewhere, “you have to respect the rules” is a friendly agreement between players. Here, it’s a plea to avoid retaliation. For in these streets, “the Rules” are no abstract concept, they are a real, occult force, everwatching.

To the grown-ups, this is a childish myth, no different from the usual playground made-ups. The truth of the spell fades with puberty, leaving adults wholly convinced it was only a tale, even those who once faced it themselves.

The bravest children have tried to trick the Rules with charms or superstitions, hoping to avoid the retaliation but none ever succeed. Except, it is said, for one child in every generation, who knows the secret ways to keep the Rule contained.

Without the enlightened child, the Rules could slip their playground bounds and demand perfect obedience in every corner of the city, punishing even the smallest misdemeanours. A loose spell enforcing fairness across all of Palopo, on children and adults alike, would be a far greater danger. That is why this petty enchantment must remain confined to the childhood games.

Woaw,that’s a long and precise answer, thanks a lot.

You pointed out some interesting explanations:

• Some gameplay balance are designed for midgame when PCs have 2 to 3 talents. If I play the one-shot with another group, I’ll try to play it with 3rd level PCs. This would probably be better.

• I don’t feel that the elemental limitation of Magiturges is that significant but I may be wrong since I don’t tried it enough.

• Even with the two points above, I still find the need for anticipation build in the Engineer very limiting. In my game, I like to take the player by surprise and that defeats the whole point of choosing the device beforehand. If I would stick to the mechanic, I would feel the need to provide some sort of mission briefing so that engineers have a chance to pick some adapted devices. They can’t have the same gears for a fight against a Wayward, an inquiery or a social hostage situation.

When I ran the one-shot I changed the engineer mechanic on the spot to offer them a better adaptation. I made a dichotomy: natural matter for magiturges and technogical one for engineers. Both can use magic on the spot but they are limited to their respected domain. Engineers become some sort of enchanters that craft magic items and alter the properties of human-built devices. In my game, an engineer turned a key into a key that can open any lock and create a false ID to free a prisoner.

Thanks again for your response and keep the good work going. We really enjoyed your game :)

Hey, I ran an initiation one-shot with my relatives on the City Ethereal and everyone enjoyed it. Nice job!

There are a few typos but I remember that the game was designed during a short jam so it is understandable.

May I ask you a question? I really like the roleplay opportunities offered by the two vocations. It is refreshing to have some magic users relying on technology rather that pure intellectual skills. However, in this version, engineers look just like magiturges with drawbacks. They can’t interact with spirits and have to build their magic items beforehand rather than improvising on the spot. Did I missed an advantage they have over the magiturges?

Hey,

I just reviewed your game and I want to send all my congratulations!

We Swim Bellow is a perfect fit for this jam. Occult and Modern time are present and even included in the gameplay.

The tarot cards provides a lot of versatility and are very good looking.

Overall, it’s a great submission, congratulations again!

This is the weirdest TTRPG I ever read. Yet, this sound fun, very original and fun again. I can’t see myself playing this for more that a session or two but I can definitely imagine my friend and I loughing at loud during these two sessions!

Very efficient a capturing the magical girl mood. A must for all MG fans.

This is a good single-player TTRPG journaling game. It shades a hopeful light on the traditional witches theme.

Get ready to gather your community to discuss and drink. I recommend!

Vestigium has a very interesting mechanic based on dice pools. It is a simple and efficient way to represent the concept of balance between a human bearer and their sentient magic artifact.

I like the idea that the magic come from Vestigium (the magic artefact) rather than the classic human-being wizards.

The only drawback is that the document lack of a skill/power list but this is easily fixed by taking inspiration from another TTRPG source.

Great job!

Cyberfunk 20XX provides a unique setting and mood.

It is NOT a new iteration of the traditional-TTRPG themes : fantastic, sci-fi or horror. Cyberfunk is it’s own thing full of music, comic enjoyers and skaters.

If you want a TTRPG that feel fresh and new, have a look!

This is a very cool setting and a very interesting take on the occult. The rules are simple yet detailed-enough to provide a good gameplay.

I can see several easy way to homebrew new contents to adapt this game to every table. Great job providing a cool base game while leaving room for developments.

Special kudos for the random tables. I was surprised (in a good way) by the diversity of the spirits and mission goals. It boosts the replayability!

Thanks for the time spent to give a text feedback! This is really appreciated :)

• illustration are mine so no credit nedded for them.

• it’s very easy to find a tarot online but I may have suggested this in the text. Thanks for pointing this out. Same for the font, I’ll think of this next time.

Once again, thanks for the feedback!

I’m not the organiser so wait for his answer but I’d understand the same thing.

Hi, 

The themes section explains that there is a main theme and three subthemes and that every themes are optionals. However, the ranking section states that there will be a ranking based on the closeness to each themes. 

This puzzles me because I can't understand how something can be optional and ranked at the same time. Could you provide us more details on the theme ranking please? 

Moreover, are there any precision on the judges criteria? The paragraph is still not updated.